The effect of sensory stimulation provided by family on systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in critical care patients

Background: Stressors in the intensive care unit (ICU) impair patients’ comfort, excite the stress response, and change their vital signs. Non-medical interventions are recommended by several studies as a treatment to improve comfort in the ICU patients. Sensory stimulation is one of the most important interventions. Since vital signs is an important index of patients’ clinical condition, this study aimed to investigate the effect of sensory stimulation provided by family on systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in critical care patients. Materials and Methods: This study is a clinical trial conducted on 64 patients hospitalized in the ICU wards of Al-Zahra and Kashani hospitals in Isfahan, Iran in 2012 and 2013. The patients were selected by simple sampling method and were randomly assigned to two groups (study and control). Patients’ systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured 10 min before, immediately after, 10 min and 30 min after sensory stimulation in the study group, and simultaneously in the control group without any intervention. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant difference in the mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate 10 min before, immediately after, 10 min and 30 min after sensory stimulation in the study group (P < 0.001), but in the control group, the difference was not significant (P = 0.33, P = 0.77, and P = 0.37 respectively). Conclusion: Application of sensory stimulations as a nursing and non-medical intervention by the family members improves comfort and decreases the mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in critical care patients.